From This Day On, You Have One Less Skill

Nick Fury said, "Natasha, in my capacity as director, I forbid you from using one particular skill."

Black Widow asked in confusion, "What skill?"

"Seduction!"

Black Widow was baffled. Why had the director suddenly issued such a strange order?

Her beauty was one of her greatest weapons, and it had never failed her.

If she could not use it, her capabilities would be reduced by at least half.

Nick Fury sighed. "Your husband has come knocking. If I don't agree, he'll tear down S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Hu... husband? Director, I have thirty-seven passports, and more than a dozen of them list me as married. Is this a new mission? Which passport do you need me to use?"

When Black Widow went out on missions, the identity she and her partner most often assumed was naturally that of a married couple.

After all, it was perfectly reasonable for newlyweds to visit a city and take photos together.

Most of Black Widow's partners were agents. Only one had been an ordinary person who had been kept in the dark.

Black Widow's heart stirred. Could it be him?!

When Black Widow first met Apocalypse, she had indeed been deeply moved.

Seeing him live amid the chaos of the City of God yet seemingly dwell in a true paradise, neither sorrowful nor angry, content and at ease, with eyes only for the flowers and plants in his shop.

Having spent her entire life in a world of deception and intrigue, it was Black Widow's first time seeing someone so peaceful.

For a moment, Black Widow had even wanted to live with him forever as "husband and wife," escaping this world.

Unfortunately, she could not!

That feeling had only been enough to keep Black Widow there for one extra night.

Any longer would have been extremely dangerous, both for herself and Apocalypse.

When she left the next day, she had even torn up the marriage certificate and could not help writing a few words. All of it had been proof of her turmoil.

It was completely unlike the behavior of a top agent.

But the more she thought about it, the more impossible it seemed. He was just an ordinary florist. How could he possibly have the ability to storm S.H.I.E.L.D. and force the director into making such a promise?

Nick Fury said, "I'll send you some files. You'll understand after you read them."

As he spoke, he sent Black Widow the urgently gathered information, along with footage of last night's battle and the recent fight at S.H.I.E.L.D., through an encrypted channel.

Apocalypse's file was simple. As a child, he had arrived in God's Country with his elders after falling on hard times. After they died, he opened a flower shop in the City of God to make a living.

The only unusual detail was his elders' connection to the drug lord Flying Eagle.

When she saw the footage of last night's battle, Black Widow could hardly believe her eyes.

Her fake husband was actually this powerful?!

More importantly, she had only been gone for a few days, yet he had come straight to S.H.I.E.L.D. That meant he had known her identity all along.

Thinking of that, Black Widow felt a little angry. That liar! He had known who she was but never exposed her. He had to have been laughing at her.

But when she thought of the vows from their wedding, if he had known her identity, then had those vows also come from his heart?!

Black Widow's heart was in turmoil.

Getting married for an assassination mission was one thing.

But truly entrusting her entire life to someone made Black Widow, like any ordinary woman, feel flustered and unsure of how to face it.

If Apocalypse had been an ordinary person, Black Widow would have rejected him without hesitation—just as she had left on their wedding day.

To ensure her safety, she had no fixed home and never dared to have a real "family." An ordinary person would never meet a good end by staying with her.

But after watching the video Director Nick Fury had sent, and learning that her bargain husband was actually an unparalleled powerhouse, Black Widow could not help feeling moved.

But the way their relationship had begun was all wrong.

She had first deceived him, pretending to fall in love at first sight. Then came the fake marriage, and she used his connection to the drug lord to poison someone.

No matter how she looked at it, it was nothing like the beginning a normal couple should have.

After a long silence, Black Widow said, "Director, I don't know what to do."

Nick Fury said, "This isn't a mission. This is your life. The choice is yours."

Seeing that Black Widow remained silent, Nick Fury added, "Take your time and think about it. I won't assign you any missions for the next few days. Remember, until you settle things with him, you must not use your looks again. S.H.I.E.L.D. can't withstand a monster stronger than the Hulk."

On Apocalypse's side, he took the thirty million dollars and gave more than half of it to Dr. Sterns to establish a laboratory.

Then he spent eight million to buy a villa in the suburbs, along with the surrounding land.

This would be his home in this world.

During that time, Apocalypse called Black Widow several times, but she hung up every time.

Apocalypse shrugged. He knew Black Widow still did not know how to face him, so he could only wait for another opportunity.

During this time, Apocalypse gradually familiarized himself with his powers and learned some fighting techniques.

After all, he was not the Hulk. He could not solve every enemy by wildly smashing things.

Apocalypse glanced at the system data:

Recovery Potion: 173 bottles.

Black Widow Shared Fortune: 65%.

Hulk Shared Fortune: 30%.

Black Widow's Shared Fortune had originally only been 60%. During this time, her trust in him had increased by a little more.

That showed his trip to S.H.I.E.L.D. had been effective after all.

As for the Hulk's 30%, it represented goodwill.

Apocalypse had the Hulk's blood in his body and had saved the Hulk's girlfriend Elizabeth, so it was not surprising.

But what was Fortune actually for? Apocalypse still did not know.

But one thing was certain: having Fortune did not mean one would not die.

In the original plot, Black Widow, Vision, and even Iron Man, the absolute protagonist, had all died—and they had been the kind of deaths that could not be reversed even with the Infinity Stones.

It might provide some protagonist's luck, but it was not a lifesaver.

Speaking of Iron Man, based on Apocalypse's memories, the timeline of Hulk 2 should have been around the same period as Iron Man 1.

At this time, Tony Stark was not yet Iron Man. He often made entertainment headlines because he had dates with some cover girl or another.

Apocalypse had been following his news all along.

Then one day, the news reported:

Tony Stark, the heir to Stark Industries, genius scientist, and billionaire, had gone missing while transporting weapons through the Middle East. His whereabouts were currently unknown.

Stark Industries offered a fifty-million-dollar reward for any information regarding Tony's whereabouts.

The plot of Iron Man 1 had begun!

In the original plot, Tony Stark had been kidnapped by a group of militants called the Ten Rings and forced to build missiles.

He should have been in some cave in the Middle East desert right now. His heart was injured, with bomb fragments lodged inside it, and he had to rely on an external battery to stay alive.

Rescuing Tony would not be difficult. Apocalypse was not in a position to search personally, but as long as he notified S.H.I.E.L.D. and determined the general location, finding and saving him would be easy.

The problem was that this experience was Tony's turning point in life. It was the key event that transformed him from a playboy into Iron Man.

If Apocalypse interfered too early, there might never be an Iron Man in this world.

Iron Man was the central figure in a series of future events. Without him, everything in the future would change, and Apocalypse's foreknowledge would become useless.

But if he did nothing and failed to help Tony in his hour of need, he would not be able to share Iron Man's Fortune.

The more Fortune, the better.

That put him in a difficult position.

After thinking for a moment, Apocalypse contacted Dr. Sterns. "Stern, if I connect to a surveillance system, can you hack it?"

"Boss, my brainpower has increased tremendously now. I can learn that kind of hacking technique casually. It's a piece of cake."

"Good. Wait for my orders."

Dr. Sterns said, "No problem. But... Boss, do you have any more Recovery Potions? I've already used them all."

"So soon? It hasn't even been a month."

Apocalypse asked casually. But to Stern, it sounded somewhat like a rebuke.

In his view, a miraculous medicine like the Recovery Potion had to be extremely valuable.

Six bottles were equivalent to six lives. If sold to the wealthy alone, they would be worth who knew how many billions.

Using them all in a month really was hard to explain.

Dr. Sterns hurriedly said, "Boss, although I haven't analyzed the potion's ingredients yet, I've made some progress."

"Let me hear it."

"Although the potion is miraculous and can instantly restore someone to normal, it also has certain flaws. If an injury has already healed, or if an organ has been missing for too long and the wound has healed, it cannot be restored."

Apocalypse had a bad feeling and asked, "If someone has been blind for twenty years, or if a woman had her uterus removed more than a decade ago, those can't be restored?"

"That's right. Forget more than a decade. As long as the injury has healed, it can't be restored."

"What if the scar is damaged again? For example, if a blind eye is stabbed blind once more?"

"That won't work either. This potion seems only able to restore something to how it was before the wound healed. If you damage a scar and repair it again, it will only be restored into a scar."

Apocalypse's heart sank. He had originally wanted to find a suitable time to give Director Nick Fury a Recovery Potion as a favor.

One of Nick Fury's eyes had been blinded in the nineties during the plot of Captain Marvel, when it was scratched out by a Flerken.

But that was still a minor matter, nothing important.

The key was Black Widow. The Red Room had cruelly removed her uterus, leaving her infertile for life. It was her greatest regret.

If he could restore it, he could undoubtedly resolve part of her inner trauma.

If the Recovery Potion would not work, then he needed to find another method.

Apocalypse said solemnly, "I'll send you a few more bottles."

The next day, Abuqiong Country, desert.

Based on where Tony had gone missing and the impressions in his memories, Apocalypse quickly pinpointed a canyon.